Chapter 286: Chapter 286

"Conrad Sterling, why is it you?"

Anna Thornton opened the door, astonished to see the man standing outside.

Conrad Sterling’s eyes were fixed on her, especially puzzled by the brown bear onesie with two ears on the hood that Anna had on.

Is this the taste of that man?

"Are you deliberately torturing yourself, or me? Didn’t the doctor tell you to stay in bed and rest? Why won’t you listen? You slip out of the hospital every few days and always show up in front of me out of the blue. What exactly are you up to?" Anna asked him.

"I called you, but you didn’t pick up!"

"Yeah, didn’t I say when I left this morning? I’m in a bad mood, I don’t want to see you, and I don’t want to answer your calls."

"You don’t want to see me?" Conrad Sterling sneered, "So you ran out to meet another man? And stayed over at his place?"

"Conrad Sterling, stop talking nonsense! Where’s this ’other man’ you’re talking about?"

"Don’t worry, I’m not talking nonsense. I’ll find him myself!"

He said as he tried to push past her into the house.

Anna wanted to stop him but couldn’t. President Sterling was not being friendly today, and he had quite an aggressive aura.

But after passing Anna, a robot suddenly dashed out from the kitchen, holding a cup of coffee to block Conrad Sterling’s way.

The robot’s eyes were screens, with text scrolling—"Don’t step any further, or I won’t be polite."

Conrad Sterling wasn’t about to be intimidated by such a thing, so he took another step forward. The robot sounded an alarm and directly splashed the coffee onto Conrad Sterling’s chest.

But that was all it did!

After splashing the coffee, the robot immediately ran back to the kitchen, fetching a mop to clean the coffee-stained floor.

In the end, it was just a housekeeping robot, never able to escape its assigned duties.

Conrad Sterling continued walking inside, only to see Lola holding a computer, operating the robot, and glaring at him with hostility.

The man didn’t stop and walked right past Lola.

But after looking around, he found there were no other living beings in the room.

So the person he was looking for, the supposed rival, was actually...that...not even knee-high...

Conrad Sterling turned back, taking a closer look at the little kid he had overlooked.

His gaze couldn’t help but fall on Lola’s little brown bear onesie and his bear paw slippers.

Then he glanced at Anna, who was wearing a matching outfit. It seemed this woman really wasn’t here for the first time.

Anna didn’t know what happened; Conrad Sterling suddenly barged in at midnight without explaining his reason.

Now he and Lola sat on the couch, a large and a small figure glaring at each other across the coffee table, as if caught in a silent standoff, with neither willing to speak first.

They were both naturally reticent, and now their silence became synchronized.

The situation fell into an inexplicable awkwardness.

Anna felt like something happened that she wasn’t aware of.

While Lola was small, it was the first time Anna saw someone confront Conrad Sterling without losing ground.

Proud of the little one, Anna couldn’t help but break the silence: "Aren’t you guys tired? How long are you going to sit ? If you’re not tired, I am!"

"Please, can one of you speak first?" Anna pointed at President Sterling, "The bigger one should give way to the smaller one. Conrad Sterling, be honest, what did you come here for? Say your piece and leave!"

Conrad Sterling seemed dissatisfied with Anna’s attitude, worse than with anyone else.

But he showed restraint in front of her, curbing his temper: "I’ll leave if you come with me."

"No way!" Lola spoke up, "I won’t let you take her away from me tonight."

Why did this situation feel like a love rival’s jealous spat?

What nonsense is this, Lola is just a kid.

Plus, the child lacked motherly love and attention from a young age. A little kindness makes him cling to Anna.

Since the child was pitiful yet adorable, Anna had no choice but to redirect her words to Conrad: "Exactly! A grown man competing with a child, aren’t you ashamed?"

Using age as leverage, President Sterling was unhappy: "It’s late, I’m taking my own wife home, is that a problem?"

"Who’s your wife, shameless!" Anna scolded him.

"Who’s your wife, shameless!" Lola echoed.

Seeing the big and small echoing each other, Conrad Sterling was prepared. He took out their marriage certificate he carried: "Who was it back then who did everything possible to get that certificate with me? If speaking the truth is shameless, then what about a married woman staying out all night, posing as single to deceive a little fresh meat?"

Anna never expected Conrad Sterling to carry around the marriage certificate.

What’s wrong with him?

He was the one who insisted on keeping the marriage a secret.

So now who’s flaunting that red booklet everywhere?

Lola didn’t believe Anna and Conrad Sterling were really a couple. He jumped off the couch, too quick to put on his bear paw slippers, eager to see if the marriage certificate was real.

Conrad Sterling, anticipating Lola’s attempts, wouldn’t let him take it, only letting him view it in his hand.

He even looked down on Lola: "Kid, can you read?"

Upon hearing that, Lola puffed out his cheeks in anger, his little face almost ballooning like a pufferfish. He seemed to have suffered a huge defeat...his goddess was swooped by the big pig trotter first.

Lola wanted to snatch the marriage certificate from Conrad Sterling’s hand and destroy it.

But President Sterling, prepared, held it high, taking advantage of his height and long arms, so Lola couldn’t reach it no matter how much he jumped.

"Conrad Sterling, how can you bully a child and still feel justified?" Anna disparaged the unusually childish President Sterling.

Seeing Lola genuinely upset, Anna picked him up to take him back to his room: "Lola, let’s go to sleep, don’t mind him."

Although Lola was hit by a thunderbolt, Anna’s warm embrace was comforting and helpful.

The red booklet was issued before, it doesn’t count.

The little guy had a bet with Conrad Sterling about who Anna would be with tonight, so he still won.

With this thought, Lola regained his confidence.

After all, people married now can divorce; a piece of marriage certificate paper can’t bind anything, and he’ll surely become the closest person to Aunt Anna.

Conrad Sterling knew from the kid’s eyes that he wasn’t giving up, and of course, he wouldn’t give anyone a chance to plan against his wife.

So the situation was , Conrad Sterling wanted to take Anna home.

But Lola wouldn’t let Anna leave.

Conrad Sterling said it’s inappropriate for Anna to stay over at someone’s house and share a bed at midnight. Googlᴇ search novel-fire.net

But Lola stated he’s just a child, a lonely, solitary kid who needs adult care and company.

Now he was emphasizing he’s a child?

Anna, of course, couldn’t bear to leave Lola, and Conrad Sterling wouldn’t leave either.

So in the end, Anna stayed to keep Lola company, and Conrad Sterling stayed too, sleeping in the living room.

Lola didn’t want Conrad Sterling to stay, but President Sterling claimed to be an injured man, unable to return to the hospital this late.

Seeing how he’d recently helped her a lot and even got hurt for her, Anna couldn’t force him to go.

After Anna finished telling stories in the bedroom, putting Lola to sleep,

Conrad Sterling called her out for a private talk.

"Anna, are you too hung up on the regrets from three years ago? Or can’t you get over the child we didn’t have a chance with?"

"Conrad Sterling, what are you trying to say?"

"I’m just reminding you, there’s no need to project your unresolved emotions onto every child of Pop’s age you meet.

"I don’t need your reminders. The first time I saw Lola, I liked him. I know this kind of liking very well, I just want to see this child happy and healthy, and can’t help but want to care for him. Do you think I’m just overrun with motherly love with nowhere to go? Then why didn’t I feel this way when Holly Sutton tried to trick me with a fake child?"

"No matter how much you like him, he is someone else’s child. Since he’s unrelated by blood, you should keep a distance, especially as he’s a boy."

Conrad Sterling’s words revealed a trace of jealousy; he was just jealous of a three-year-old kid.

"Conrad Sterling, are you done? Lola is just a child, don’t view him with your adult’s filthy mentality."

Conrad Sterling wanted to say that what if his assumptions were right about their missing child from three years ago.

But thinking about it, he decided to wait since investigations were still ongoing, and he couldn’t be a hundred percent sure. Without confirmed results, telling Anna now would only lead to further disappointment if they couldn’t find the child later.